Iowa Summers

I know I complain about living in Iowa a ton. No one is ever surprised to hear about me rambling on about how badly I want to get out of this place--to pack my bags and see more of the world. To satisfy the "itch" that keeps me wondering and wanting to move. I know. This is true...however, this weekend, I thought differently.

Friday was different. Friday I made myself think differently about the place I spend my days and the place I lay my head at night. I think I took this place for granted, up until Friday (and I am sure I will many more times in the future). After getting off work early I went home to hang out with my dear friend Sara and her BF. We were just hanging out and decided to go for a drive to the lake. We packed a cooler of beer and headed out. Windows down, and the breeze blowing through our hair...

The lake was perfectly still--it would have been like a mirror, shining my reflection straight back at me as the pink-gold of the setting sun settled in on my face. The only thing reminding me that it was, in fact, water, was the occasional glimpse of a little minnow getting brave enough to leave the shelter the dock was providing him. It was perfect. I lay my head down, and look across the water, so high it was like I was simply laying on it--not on this old rickety dock.

On the way home we decided to take gravel--we turned up the Tim McGraw, rolled the windows down, and let the wind hit our faces and run it's fingers through our hair. It was, to me, a picture perfect moment, where there was nothing to see but the bright green of the rolling hills, the pastures, and the fields of corn readying themselves for the harvest. If you could have taken a snapshot of me at my happiest this year--even if only for a fleeting moment, that would have been it--me, in the back seat, watching the sun set over the lush green hills with a little country music ringing in my ears...I should probably give this place a little more credit!